The template of the ‘playing card’ has been referenced many times within the history of fashion. I wanted to get a better insight into the brands and their designers that have been inspired by their symbolism, aesthetic , representation and why they chose the concept of the playing card. I came to find that Vivienne Westwood has used the format of play cards many times in her campaigns and designs. I really liked her Climate Revolution playing cards that were designed in effort to discuss and protest against climate change and the lack of action taken against it. Westwood said she wanted people to “collect the cards, connect the cards” which explores how she has purposely designed a deck of cards that when placed together tell a story and also voice a message. When talking about the design for the back of the playing cards, Westwood explains that she decided to use a picture of a child (actually of herself at four years old) to make the point of the future being ‘so uncertain’ and that children today are not going to be living in a world that they are familiar with, that they will be facing problems that we have not yet experienced and that they are in danger. Wanting graphics and a written message on the back of the cards, Vivienne thought back to some of her most important sayings and messages she has created- her favourite being simple- “buy less”. She goes on to explain that the cards are aimed to prompt people to “tell kids the truth” and then asks us “what is the truth? What else can we do?”. She leaves us with “when you start doing it you become an activist” which I think is a very striking message and will inspire many fans and customers to really take action. The cards are all quite different in terms of visual imagery and layout, but this is cohesive with Vivienne Westwood’s aesthetic and used on purpose to echo her chaotic message. She mostly uses the traditional colour pallet of playing cards (red, black and white) which keeps the playing cards looking uniform and realistic in some ways. I think I will be really inspired by Vivienne Westwood’s cards and I can already see some things that I will be able to emulate in my deck of cards.